Kino has just released a Region 1 edition of the restored version of F. W. Murnau’s FAUST as part of a new series of Murnau titles along with an upgraded and updated box set. This so called German version of the film has been available in Europe for quite some time but now it’s come to the U.S. with only slight modifications. While it’s cause for celebration, I had some problems with this release.
First the good news. The picture quality of the German version is first rate and shows you the flaws in the export version which looked pretty good up until this point. The print is not only cleaner but it’s shorter by about 7 minutes which tightens everything up. The framing is better because it’s the principal camera negative and it restores Faust’s and Gretchen’s ascension scene which is strangely missing from the export version.
Now the bad news. It’s not really bad but it did have an impact on my viewing experience. While it’s nice to have the original German intertitles for authenticity, it is sometimes difficult to the read the English subtitles against the old style German lettering. Yellow subtitles would have made it much easier. Second and even more important is the Mont Alto Orchestra’s score that accompanies the film. While it is well played and well recorded as usual, it seems detached from what is happening onscreen. The Timothy Brock score for the export version is much more dramatic and is even cued to certain onscreen happenings. Too bad it couldn’t have been rerecorded (to make up for the difference in running time) and used again.
These are only minor critical quibbles. Overall the film remains one of the pivotal examples of silent film storytelling and many thanks are due Kino for making it available to us along with the earlier export version so that we can compare. Also the Mont Alto score is more effective than the alternate piano score or the solo harp score that accompanied the Region 2 version.
The Capsule Critic 